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South Bristol Housing Zone

South Bristol Housing Zone

In 2015, the government announced the creation and designation of Housing Zones across the country. The purpose of a Housing Zone is to use redundant brownfield land for housing developments.

We were successful in our application for the South Bristol Housing Zone. The zone is made up of seven sites in the Filwood, Hengrove, Whitchurch Park and Windmill Hill wards.

These include the following sites we own:

Hengrove Park

former Hartcliffe Campus

former Florence Brown School site

former Whitehouse Centre, Fulford Road

Kingswear

They also include the following sites that the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) owns:

Filwood Park

former Marksbury Road College site

Aim of the Housing Zone

The Housing Zone status will give us and the HCA the opportunity to work together with local communities to create:

high quality housing

a housing market that meets local housing need

The Bristol Local Plan sets the development considerations for each site in the South Bristol Housing Zone. Our priority is to create housing and employment space to the area, as set out in the Site Allocations document.

The Housing Zone feasibility study

The HCA gave us funding for a feasibility study to explore how we could develop the sites.

The Knowle West Regeneration Framework (KWRF)

Proposals for the sites that come forward in the KWRF area will be in line with the recommendations in the framework.

Hengrove Park

Hengrove Park is the largest and most significant site within the Housing Zone.

Hengrove Park received planning consent for mixed use development in 2005. This wasn’t implemented and eventually became superseded by Phase 1, which includes the Hengrove Park Leisure Centre, Skills Academy, South Bristol Community Hospital, development plots and associated infrastructure.

In 2014 the Council adopted the Bristol Local Plan, including the Site Allocations document which allocates Hengrove Park Phase 2 for 1000 homes.

Development plots in Hengrove Park Phase 1

We have released the plot to the south of Hengrove Leisure Centre to a developer ahead of the feasibility study. This will be the first plot of housing at Hengrove Park. We chose it because of its location and potential to deliver homes for the community very quickly, in line with the Site Allocations document.

The site already benefits from the necessary roads and access points built for Phase 1. It’s a relatively contained part of the site, bounded by the existing road layout to the north, east and south, and by the Mounds to the west.

There are three smaller plots next to the car parks and the Skills Academy building that will be considered as part of the Housing Zone study.

Developers for the Phase 1 housing development

We have chosen Kier Living as the developer for a site within Phase 1 to build around 250 new homes.

The developer will be consulting with the community on the detailed plans as part of the preparation of a planning application in Spring 2017.

Hengrove Park Phase 2

Almost 50 hectares remain available for development in Phase 2. The site will be allocated for:

1,000 new homes

offices

a large high quality public park

Sites of Nature Conservation Interest

Next to the allocated site of Hengrove Park are three Sites of Nature Conservation Interest:

The Mounds

Hawfield Meadows

Bamfield and Briery Leaze Road

These designated areas aren't allocated for development due to their local nature conservation value.

St Bernadette’s Rugby Club

St Bernadette’s Rugby Club have a club house and pitches at Hengrove Park. The Council is consulting with the Club to understand their future requirements.

Education and Health

Setting up the necessary infrastructure to support communities is key to creating great places. As part of the feasibility study, we'll work together with colleagues in Education and Public Health to understand the future education and health requirements for the area and how we can offer them.

A large, high quality park

We'll create a large, high quality park as part of the redevelopment of the former airfield. This is a requirement set out in the Site Allocation document and the Bristol Parks and Green Space Strategy. The proposed size, location and function of the park will form part of a consultation exercise in early 2017.

Housing density

In order to use land within Bristol in the best way possible, we look for residential development with a minimum of 50 dwellings per hectare.

The density of a development needs to take into account:

the characteristics of the site

the local context

accessibility

the mix of uses

the needs of the community

the need to create high quality environments

The density of development proposed at Hengrove Park will form part of a consultation exercise in early 2017. The final density of development will be determined through the planning process.

Engaging with the local community

We want to engage with the community in a meaningful way around the results we can achieve.The feasibility work has informed our discussions with the community.

Between now and the date the planning applications are submitted, there will be a number of opportunities for the community to engage with the design team to help shape the proposals. A full report on the consultation including how the proposals have responded to the consultation will be set out in the Statement of Community Involvement which will form part of the planning application.